PAUL JONES | University of Sydney

AS PART OF A UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY research agreement with the PNG Office of Urbanisation based in Port Moresby, earlier this year I was invited to participate in a ceremony in the Wahgi Valley, PNG Highlands.

At the ceremony, held in Minj some 60 kilometres south-east of Mount Hagan, prime minister Peter O'Neill launched PNG's national urbanisation policy. He also declared the new Jiwaka Province.

The ceremony was attended by 20,000 people, including not only villagers from the beautiful Wahgi but others who had travelled up to 300 kilometres to show support for the creation of the new province and the urbanisation pilot project.

People came from as far as Mendi, many arriving in mini buses with the words 'urbanisation power' and 'jiwaka mendi urban power' scrawled in mud on their sides.

The villagers came in full traditional ceremonial dress, showing strength in numbers and reaffirming their clan and tribal identity.

In PNG 97% of land is customary. It's governed by different and much more complex law (often unwritten and unrecorded) than formal state laws. Customary, unwritten law can prevail over written, formal state legislation.

As towns and cities grow, they are encroaching onto customary land occupied by landholders. This complicates a state-centred approaches to planning. Building support amongst customary land-holders is a key approach of the policy.

Under the new policy the PNG government will build on a series of pilot settlements to demonstrate how effective long-term planning is beneficial for the people of PNG.

Presently the Office of Urbanisation has three pilot projects underway, one on state lands and two on customary lands.

A key reason for holding the launch at Minj was that one of the pilot projects was located there. The place was once a thriving rural service centre during the colonial days of the 1960s and 1970s (including having its own airport).

It subsequently fell into decline as services were withdrawn and relocated to other towns. However, as part of a push to rejuvenate centres in both the urban and rural setting in PNG, albeit on a small scale, Minj is being regenerated.

New and upgraded roads, water supply, power and land for housing are now being rolled out with the support of an enthusiastic local committee of 300 plus members. Memories of what Minj was once like lives strongly in the minds of the Minj and Jiwaka people, hence their unprecedented support for local improvements.

With Minj located on state lands, the task of planning and implementing a pilot project in this location is less complex than the pilot projects underway in the major growing urban centres of Port Moresby and Goroka.

The Office of Urbanisation is hoping for increased support from development partners, both local and international, to implement the new policy and improve the urban conditions of towns and centres in both urban and rural areas.

Paul Jones is Associate Professor and Program Director of the Urban and Regional Planning Program in the Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning, a member of the Sydney University Pacific Expert Group convened by Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International) Professor John Hearn, and a member of the local planning team in PNG that developed the National Urbanisation Policy. He is now assisting in the policy's implementation